Christmas Social Media Campaigns

It’s that time of year once again… The festive lights go up, holiday music starts playing everywhere, and the Christmas spirit comes alive. It also means a giant wave of holiday campaigns arriving on our social media feeds. Every business has a holiday campaign, and it can feel hard to compete – especially if your time or budget is tight. The thing is, though, these holiday promotions are totally worth it. The Christmas season of cheer is a perfect time to engage your list of email subscribers, boost traffic, increase sales, and more. According to HubSpot, shoppers give back to retailers who help them get through the season of giving (think useful and timely content marketing). Plus, holidays are a huge time for sales. In 2015, 74% of retailers said at least 20% of their total sales for the year happened over the holidays. That’s nothing to wink at! To start our guide, we’re going to take note from some brands on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram doing it right. The one thing they all have in common? They set out to delight their audiences first, and boost their bottom lines second. [bctt tweet=”Brands with holiday campaigns should set out to delight their audiences first, and boost their bottom lines second. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] For our creative Christmas infographic, we’ve pulled ideas and inspiration you can use to brighten up your own feeds and holiday campaigns, taking inspiration from the 12 days of Christmas lyrical piece. Enjoy. Let’s dive in! Add Holiday Spice to Your Christmas Social Media Campaigns with Our 12 Days of Christmas Campaign Ideas (Infographic) Just like the holiday tune “The 12 Days of Christmas,” we’ve got 12 festive ideas for your Christmas social media campaigns. Try one (or two, or three, or all 12!) to get your holidays rolling. Read below the infographic for more how-tos, example, and links straight to free tools you can use to craft holiday-focused content. Decorate Your Christmas Social Media Campaigns with 12 Days of Christmas Campaign Ideas 1. “Decorate” Your Social Profiles Take a page from Penguin Books and spruce up your social profiles with some festive graphics. Theme them around your brand’s purpose to make it even more impactful. Note that Penguin updated their header image with a festive photo that features some of their books. It looks like they’re about to get wrapped in pretty holiday paper and ribbon. Note that the images they post to their feed have a matching look, which helps tie it all together. Another good example is how Starbucks jazzed up their Twitter page with a photo of their new “coloring book” holiday cups: Some of the cups even look like a kid scribbled on them, which is endearing and sweet. That sets a perfect tone for a family-friendly holiday. Another perfect example: Ulta, a national beauty chain, gave their Twitter page a holiday twist with a bunch of women showing off festive holiday party looks: Follow suit with your social media accounts, but try to make the “décor” relevant to your brand. (Hint: Don’t just put up a random picture of Santa – tie it into what you sell or offer!) How to Use Canva to Easily (& for FREE) Add Some Festivities to Your Profile Images You can do this super easily. Canva, for instance, has customizable templates that are professional-looking and already perfectly-sized for your Facebook cover image or your Twitter header. To find festive templates, use the search bar to narrow down your options. Or, if you love to DIY, first check out these sizing guidelines for creating images for your social media profiles. 2. “Santa Hat” Your Profile Pictures A quick, fun way to inject some festive flair into your social media presence is to add a Santa hat to your profile pictures. Check out these leading brands who did it to great effect: If you go for the Santa Hat, just be sure it doesn’t look tacky (i.e. you don’t need anyone thinking your brand could only afford imagery thrown together with amateur Photoshop skills). All of the above logos use Santa hats that mesh well with their graphic style. To get the perfect Santa hat for your logo or branding, enlist the help of a graphic designer. (This could be a great project to hand to a graphic design student looking for some experience!) The best part about this tip: Once you update your profile picture(s), all of your posts automatically get a touch of holiday pizazz by association. Can you say “ho, ho, ho”? 3. Host a Holiday Giveaway There’s no better time to host a fun giveaway than the holidays. Everybody’s already getting into the gifting spirit – you should definitely join in and offer delightful prizes for your followers. Plus, giveaway posts are massive magnets for engagement (who doesn’t like free stuff?), which could help you widen your following and earn some leads. Luckily, a giveaway hosted on social media is much easier than it sounds. Your 7-Step Guide to a Great Holiday Giveaway Here’s a general, quick 7-step guide: Gather a few covetable prizes. They can be your products, something fun that’s related, or a prize pack with goodies from some other affiliates thrown in. Make sure you choose goodies people will actually want to win (preferably with some cash value). Create a post that explains your giveaway. Use an eye-catching image of the goods you’re giving away to help draw attention to it. Post your giveaway with the rules (for instance, ask that people follow you and like the post in order to enter the contest). Make sure you set an end date for accepting entries, and specify when winners will be announced. Pick your contest winner(s). To do it, use a free tool like The Good Luck Fairy to help you randomly choose them. This type of tool comes in handy if you have a huge list of entrants. Or, if you use social media management software, check to see if a social media contest feature is built-in. Announce the winner(s) in a new post. Tag the winners … Read more